To Hear You Breathe

The pain comes back in waves, like someone was wringing out her lower abdomen. This pregnancy was not easy. Selma barely glances at her phone when it pings. Weather update. She gives it no second thought. But there is a second notification; an email with a subject line that makes her fingers go cold...

Life has taken an unexpected turn for Selma, an amateur artist. An email about Babo, whose whereabouts were unknown for twenty-five years, now forces Selma to face the trauma of a genocide she barely remembers, unearthing an unforgivable past, a shared grief. To heal she must face the pain of a land, its history and its people that she never imagined she would go back to.

“Although a work of fiction, Sajla Anees’s well-researched and beautifully written book describes her character Selma’s experience during and years after a genocide that shocked the world. Will her faith, family, and love of art help her cope with events that shaped her life? Anees writes with great sensitivity a story that will resonate with every reader.”
– Robert McNeil MBE, Former Forensic Specialist, Remembering Srebrenica Ambassador, UNESCO Affiliate Artist and Author of ‘Grave Faces: A Forensic Technician’s Story of Gathering Evidence of Genocide in Bosnia’.

“Transformative, devastating and hopeful, To Hear You Breathe is a tale that delves into the echoes of unhealed wounds accross generations. Sajla Anees reminds us that grief is a ghost that lingers until we face it and transform it into the hope our hearts need.”
– Rayan Mansour, ‘Author of All the People I’ve Been’.

“Sajla’s incredible and vivid writing presents a historically correct timeline of the Srebrenica genocide through personal stories of transgenerational trauma woven with the strength and love of Srebrenica women and mothers. The upbringing of children after a community survives genocide is presented as a raw and intimate journey, but also one without the need for revenge and instead, full of healing and resilience. Thank you, Sajla!”
– Velma Šarić, peacebuilder from Bosnia and Herzegovina.